Because He's a Playboy
by Wildfire2
Summary: Tony was always a lot to handle, when Pepper sees him making doe eyes at a certain captain she decides it may be time to enlist some help. Tony is after all known as a playboy.
1. Prelude

This is a 3 part story. Mostly done because I think Tony with Pepper is cute but Tony and Steve is amazing! I think he needs them both. TonyxPepper and TonyXSteve. Thank you OnyxvanGem for the beta.

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Because He's a Playboy

By Wildfire

Pepper wasn't stupid. In fact, she was quite the opposite; you had to be a genius to keep up with a genius. She wasn't as smart as Tony or Bruce, but she was smart in her own way; she was great at managing situations or knowing when to pull out of a deal.

As she sat at the breakfast table, she watched as Tony made doe eyes at Steve Rogers. Sometimes she wondered if it was time to end her and Tony's relationship. It was obvious the two men felt something for each other—sometimes just their fists— but as soon as the thought entered her mind she shoved it aside. She loved Tony Stark, she loved him with all her heart, and, what more, she knew he loved her and would be completely lost without her.

She sipped her coffee, smiling a bit as Tony ogled the captain's ass when the man's back was turned. Steve did have an amazing back side. She had no interest in sleeping with the captain though, Tony was already more than she could handle.

She paused at that thought. She did have a hard time keeping Tony in line and it would be nice to know someone who loved him was watching out for him in battle. No, she wouldn't give Tony up, not for all the peace and tranquility in the world, but perhaps she could share him. It was no mystery that he was a playboy, maybe it was time to loosen her grip on him.

"Pepper, if I make two suits that can go into space would you fly over the moon with me?" Tony grinned and Pepper rolled her eyes at the cheesy line.

"Tony you will never see me in one of those suits of yours. You can take Rhodey, he seems to like them." She stood up to refill her coffee.

"Nah I don't think Rhodey would appreciate flying over the moon like that. He'd probably be mapping it out for the military. Cap, you want to go to the moon?"

Steve, who clearly wasn't expecting to be brought into this conversation paused mid bite. He had a large mixing bowl full of scrambled eggs. "Umm, no?"

Clint snorted as he walked into the kitchen, having caught the last part of the conversation. "Always say no to Tony." He opened the fridge. "We're out of eggs again? Why are we always out of eggs?"

Steve ducked his head a bit and held the bowl up. "Want some?"

"You know I think he actually eats more than the hulk does." Pepper observed. Clint brought a fork over and started eating the eggs out of Steve's large bowl.

"Really? When have you seen the hulk eat? I just see him smash things, usually my things." Tony grumbled.

"Well it's you that usually brings the hulk out. You should be glad he doesn't smash you." Steve reasoned.

Pepper smiled, listening as the three men argued. She didn't regret pushing Tony to renovate the tower for the Avengers. It was clear they belonged here. They were a family, Bruce and Clint had quickly adjusted to Tony's humor and became close friends. Thor, well Thor didn't understand most things Tony was talking about and usually just laughed it off. Natasha was more of a blessing to her than anyone else, the extra female to keep the tower in one piece. Though, sometimes, she was sure Natasha helped the guys in destroying it.

She had tried to convenience the woman to come back and work for her, but Natasha said she wouldn't work for Tony again if his life depended on it. It was a pity, as Natasha was by far one of the best secretary's she's ever had.

The renovations for the tower had been intensive. They took floors 32-35 and made half of each floor part of the most intensive training room that has ever been built. The other half of the floors were for bedrooms. Tony and her stayed on floor 32, Steve, Thor and Bruce's rooms were on level 33 and Natasha and Clint were on floor 35. Level 34 was a large common area that had a huge entertainment center and kitchen. Tony put his lab on level 31 and Bruce's lab on level 36, there were private stairs that lead to each floor that were not accessible to the rest of the building.

She stood up, and was a little shocked when all the conversation stopped and Steve quickly stood up with her. Tony and Clint just stared. "I'm going to the office; someone has to keep Stark Industries running."

"Have fun," Tony grinned. Pepper quickly left the room, looking back to see Steve taking his seat again. Perhaps if Tony dated Steve some of his manners would rub off…

AVENGERS

The next few days ended up being a mad house in the business world as they got ready for the next big expo. Tony had been working in the lab nonstop to prefect his latest discoveries.

It was because of this that her thoughts of Tony dating Steve had been momentarily forgotten.

They returned when she came back to the tower at 3 am, tired, hungry and just plain cranky. And there was Tony sitting at the table holding a mug of coffee with both hands.

She let out a frustrated sigh, knowing she'd have to herd Tony to bed before she'd be able to sleep. She defiantly could use help with managing this man.

"Tony, why are you up?" She asked softly coming to sit beside him.

He smiled a tired smile at her. "I can sleep when I'm dead."

"Why don't we go to sleep now?" She offered him her hand.

"There's backlash, every time I fire it, it backlash's so much I swear my arm is going to dislocate. There's no reason for it to be doing this. I've checked and rechecked-"

"Tony, it's 3 am, and I have no idea what you're talking about. Let's go to bed." She pleaded.

"Pepper, it's right there. I know the solution is there. I just have to find it." He stood up, "I'll come to bed here in a bit."

"Tony I want you to date someone else." She blurted and a moment later realized how horrible that sounded. Judging from the look Tony was giving her he had clearly taken it the wrong way. It was hard to ever get Tony to let his guard down, but, looking at him now, he was clearly hurt.

His walls quickly slammed back up and he gave her a smile. "Well, why don't we talk about this—"

"I don't mean instead of me, I mean in addition to me." She rushed out before he said something they may both regret.

"Are you giving me permission to cheat?"

"No! Yes… sort of. Sit back down." She said taking a seat herself, giving up on the idea of sleep.

He sat down. "Should I be drinking for this?"

"No. Tony, you are… incorrigible, loud, obnoxious and really annoying. Still you have a great heart and I love you very much." She put her hand on top of Tony's. "I could use help in managing you."

"You want me to have a babysitter? Because we both know that will never work, I mean really—"

"Tony, shut up. I won't share you with another female. That's just asking for trouble and your enough trouble on your own. I don't ever, EVER, want to be part of a three way and you are never to ask me to be. I mean it Tony; you will _never _ever ask it. _I_ think you should date Steve."

"Steve?" Tony said slowly. "You want me to date the leader of this little group?"

"You like him." She said with a shrug.

"I like a lot of people." Tony said with a shrug. "Hell, I might even like Fury; he could be sexy in his own weird one eyed way."

"You like him." She repeated.

"I like ice cream and liquor, doesn't mean it's good for me."

"He likes you."

"Really? No he doesn't. I drive him insane, and he came from a time period where being with a man is vastly inappropriate. Pretty sure he wants to marry a nice girl and have 2.5 kids. The .5 will no doubt come from whatever genes he has that didn't get chemically enhanced, like his brain."

"He checks you out." She said calmly.

"The man is a 90 year old virgin, I'm pretty sure he's checking out the cucumber at this point. This is more tragic than that sparkly vampire. You know… they could make a good couple, well if the sparkly vamp was real, which obviously it's not. I mean, what kind of messed up person makes a vampire sparkle? Did the author not realize that the sun is not the only thing that would shine like that off their skin? There are loads of other light sources that would do that. At the very least all the kids in school would think the family got dosed in glitter every day. Which is not a great way to get a girlfriend."

"Tony, Steve?"

"Steve, right. Let me see if I get this. You want me to date you, and Steve, but never to mingle you two together. What would we have like assigned nights for me? Split custody? You get me four days a week and every other weekend sort of thing? You know I'm not sure I like that idea, I think we ought to do like three and four days. Or every third Wednesday of the month is random day I can have Jarvis randomize your names and—"

"We're all busy Tony, and I'm sure we could manage without a schedule. Whoever is available and not dead tired can have you."

Tony pouted. "I'll be alone most of the time than. Two lovers and always alone." He sighed dramatically, "No, we should have a schedule."

"We will not have a schedule Tony. We're all adults and we can manage without one. Plus, right now we don't even know if Steve wants this."

"Right." Tony stood up. "I'll talk to him, Jarvis wake St-"

"No." Pepper yanked Tony back down. "Jarvis do not wake anyone." She sighed.

"Yes ma'am, shall I make a note for this conversation?"

"No, I'll talk to Steve, later, once everything's calmed down. For now, let's go to bed." She took his hand leading him out of the kitchen.

"Well as this could be the last time you get me without having to arrange it with Steve I guess—"

Pepper shut him up with a firm kiss to his lips.

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This is my first Avenger fanfic, please let me know if the characters seem in character.


	2. Chapter 1

A.N. First chapter didn't do great, let's see if this one will do a little better. There's one more chapter after this. Again thank you to my Beta OnyxvanGem.

Because he's a Playboy

The Stark expo was a huge event that went on for the whole year. But, twice a year, Tony would appear to share what Stark Industries was doing. This year was the first year since the Avengers had been formed, and he got the lovely task of updating all their weapons to show off at the expo.

He was grateful that they were willing to join him at the expo, but designing weapons for them was proving to be more than he originally thought. He did Natasha's first, figuring she'd be the easiest. An easy but spiffy gun. But then that hardly seemed enough for her, he didn't want her to feel left out. So he started doing all these extra features on the gun, only to realize he was still working on the gun when he was suppose to be figuring out the Hulks clothing.

"Jarvis, what's my time frame for the other enhancements?"

"If you finish Agent Romanoff's gun within the current hour you will have one day and 4 hours to work on each of the other enhancements. This is allotting for five hours of sleep each night."

"Right cut the sleep down to three hours each night except on the last night, put that down to two."

"Yes sir, that provides—"

"Yeah, I know. I can do basic math Jarvis."

"Of course sir, shall I start brewing more coffee?"

"Yep." He flicked his goggles down and got back to work on finishing the gun.

AVENGERS

Steve stood at the top of the stairs that would lead down to Tony's lab. He wasn't sure if he should interrupt the man, he knew he was busy, but he also knew the genius wasn't sleeping.

"Steve?" Peppers came up behind him. "There's no use arguing with him, he won't come up until he's done. Jarvis is reporting he's sleeping an average of two and a half hours each night. Which, believe it or not, is better than sometimes. Can I have a word with you?"

He gave one last look at the stairs before turning his full attention to her. "Of course." He grinned.

She smiled back and moved into the living room, "Please have a seat" she gestured the couch before sitting down herself. She waited until he was comfortable before taking a deep breath.

"Steve, what do you think of Tony?"

"Well, if you'll excuse my language ma'am, he's a big pain in my ass." He smiled fondly, "But he's brave, freakishly smart and usually has a good heart. Why?"

"Ok, but what do you think of him." She pushed.

Steve was a little confused. "He's a good guy?" he tried again.

She sighed. "Are you aware Tony is bisexual?"

Steve's face turned bright red. He had, of course, heard Tony making crass comments about men's backsides or their looks, but he had figured it was just Tony being Tony. "I hadn't really thought about it, I guess."

"Really, have you ever wondered?"

"About what?" He shifted in his seat, very uncomfortable with this conversation.

"About being with a man, or more specifically with Tony."

"Ma'am Tony's with you and I'm pretty sure happy to be with you. I would never try to separate you two, not to mention me being with Tony—"

"Would be perfectly fine. In this time period two men being together is not all that unusual. And I'm not proposing you take Tony instead of me. This isn't share and tell. You know Tony still describes himself as a playboy? Even though he's been in a stable relationship with me for almost a year now. He still flirts and eyeballs anyone he's slightly interested in. It's only because he cares for me that he has given up sleeping around. But Steve, Tony is a lot of work. I was happy to handle him when there was no one else. Now, I think you could help. You could have a relationship with him, separate from mine with him. It wouldn't cross over; I will not be dating you."

Steve would not look Pepper in the eye. "Ma'am, that sounds a bit like straying."

"It can't be cheating if we both know about it and are ok with it." She reasoned.

"I'm not sure I am ok with it. I'm not sure I'd even want to date Tony, no matter if society says it's ok or not." He stood up. "I'm going to head to bed, good night Miss Pots." He said firmly and walked quickly out of the room.

Pepper let out a sigh and stood up herself. Sleep would be nice. She looked to the stairs that led down to Tony's lab. She really hoped Steve would come around.

AVENGERS

Tony stood in the middle of a large room. Their training room. There were targets built into each wall, and Tony had programmed the room to be moveable so that when the Hulk was unleashed he could thoroughly destroy the room without destroying the room. The room took up the height of three floors so that the Hulk could also not escape out of the ceiling.

In front of Tony stood the Avenger team, looking tired due to it being 5 am. Pepper stood behind him with a tablet in her hand.

Tony clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, so I finished your weapons for the expo tonight. That gives you around 6 hours to play with them and make sure they work."

He moved to a table set by the door picking up an ordinary looking gun. "Natasha have you ever seen that horrible movie about curving a bullet."

"No, it sounded stupid. It's impossible to curve a bullet." She said dryly.

"Unless the barrel is curved." Tony countered.

"Tony you curve a barrel in a gun and you'll blow your gun up." Natasha eyed the gun wearily.

"Not when you're a genius." He held the gun up showing the side where a small notch was in it. "Pull it towards you and the barrel curves right, away from you and it curves left. Middle obviously is straight." He held the gun pointing it toward the door, Pepper took a step to the side to insure she wasn't in harm's way. Tony grinned and fired the gun, the bullet snapped to the left of Tony hitting the wall and barely missing the target board. "See didn't blow up. Now the bullets you have are made out of a lighter alloy, meaning they probably won't go through armor. I'm working on that still. BUT to counter that I've given you fillable bullets."

"I'm sorry, what?" Natasha reached forward taking the gun, she moved the tab on the side peering into the gun to see how the barrel moved.

"That is still loaded." Tony quickly pushed the gun down, while Natasha gave him a flat look showing him the safety was on.

"Now, back to the bullets, ok so the bullets aren't strong enough to go through armor. But they can go through flesh. So you have poison bullets, the blue would make someone like me very ill but would give you enough time to deliver an antidote, which I have. The yellow would kill me but would make someone like the Captain over there just ill and the red would kill the Captain. Over here you have the sleepy bullets, same degrees. And last you, have empty bullets. You can fill them or shot them empty. The instructions for the gun with cleaning and how to fill the bullets are in this." He handed her a booklet.

"You made me a manual?"

"No, that would be horribly boring. Jarvis made you a manual."

She nodded as she opened the book up.

"Ok next, ahh right." He brought over a suit case to Bruce. "Yours is boring. But you're kind of already unstoppable so I went with practical." He opened the suit case. "Two pairs of pants, two shirts, one under shirt and four calf pants that can go under normal pants."

"Ahh thanks Tony?" Bruce said staring down at the suite case.

"They will not tear."

Bruce's eyes widened. "No way." He picked up a pair of the pants rubbing at the material. "Doesn't seem that stretchy."

"Well I didn't think you'd want to go around wearing spandex. It'll work, trust me." He moved back to the table. "Thor, yours was too big to haul. Jarvis please show the holo of Thor's new piece."

"Yes sir." A holo showed in front of Thor showing a new armor. Tony finally turned around holding a quiver, which got Clint's attention. He smiled but kept his attention on Thor.

"Ok so the metal is light as I know you like going around practically naked. You have full arm and leg pieces and a new chest piece. The metal isn't quite as strong as the Captain's shield but I think it may at least be close. You have full movement in your arms so you can swing your hammer to your hearts content. The chest piece will also stop certain younger brothers from stabbing you. The actual armor is in my lab, we can get you suited up once we're done here."

Thor stared at it the holo. "My metal friend you are truly a wizard in the art of armor making. I am honored to wear your work."

Tony nodded. "Good," he moved over to Clint. "New quiver." He held it out to him.

Clint took it, the top instead of having individual slots for each arrow had a snake like design where the arrows were lined up. He noticed an issue right away and did a quick mental count. "Tony it's only holding about 50 arrows. My quiver currently has the capacity for close to 150. And this is a lot heavier."

"143, actually. Your current quiver holds 143 arrows, after that you have to start grabbing the ones you've already shot. Correct?"

"Yeah…" Clint looked over the quiver, with a frown.

"Do you really think _I_ would down size you? Alright so here is where the arrows line up. They're made from a strong, light, condensable metal. They have a locking function so you don't have to worry about them condensing once they shoot. The arrow heads are down here and they work in pretty much the same way as your last quiver. There is a lot more of them now though, hence the extra weight."

Clint blinked. "I don't get it." He finally said.

Tony sighed. "Pull an arrow out."

Clint did so and all the other arrows moved up in line and a new arrow popped up at the end the feathers splitting out at the end. "How?"

"They're condensable? Do you understand English?" He pulled out a piece of metal that was just shorter than his thumb. "This is what they look like condensed. They're loaded in this area here; there are 503 of them in there. Now the arrow heads, you have the normal ones, the poison ones, your shock ones… all of those. They're here." He pointed to the bottom part of the quiver. "I removed some of the less used ones and put them onto a utility belt, if you need one of those you load the arrow empty and than just manually apply it. It's a little slower, I know. But I wanted to keep the weight down. Obviously you have multiple refill packs for both your arrows and arrow heads."

Clint smiled. "You should have made my quivers a long time ago."

"Well next time you know, if there's an incredibly smart, good looking billionaire, you should befriend him early on."

"Modest too." Clint smiled.

"No, never go for modest, modest people don't think they deserve their credit."

"And clearly you do." Clint chuckled.

"Goes without saying." Tony smiled to look at the last person. "Captain, yours was a pain in my ass, and expensive. Fury tried to tell me no on it. I threatened to not supply his next upgrade for his little hover craft. He said yes than." He tossed an object to Steve.

Steve caught it and looked at it, it was a thick flat piece of metal that was about as wide and thick as his hand. On one side there was a place for his fingers so it fit his hand like brass knuckles. He had no idea what it was for. "Thanks Tony, this is really nice."

Tony nodded. "Oh I know it is. Shake it to open, twist to shut. It's shut now, by the way." He stood with his arms behind his back. Looking very smug.

Steve shook his hand and jumped as the metal started opening into a small circle than a larger circle. When it stopped moving it was the same size as his current shield. This one was a dark navy blue with a burgundy A in the middle.

"It's made of the same metal as your last shield, and should be just as strong. Shall we see? Thor?" Tony stepped back standing in front of Pepper.

Thor smiled and raised his hammer and ran at Steve.

Steve's eyes widened and he quickly crouched and raised the new shield. The blast that sound was enough to knock everyone back.

Tony was glad Thor didn't hit Steve at full strength that might have been painful without armor.

Steve stood up checking the shield, it didn't even have dent.

Tony walked back over. "See now you don't have to carry that large thing around. It was not practical or stylish. Now just twist here and it'll close." Tony laid his hand on Steve's twisting it so Steve could see the movement. He was also amused to see the blush that formed on the man's cheeks. Tony could certainly get used to that blush.

"Thank you Tony," Steve moved away and reopened the shield.

Tony smiled. "Thor, let's go get you suited up." He headed out of the room and Thor followed.

Natasha and Clint moved to the left of the room to practice with their new toys. Bruce took his new clothing, planning to head to his lap to analyze them.

Pepper cautiously moved to Steve. "Mr. Rogers."

He turned to face her. "Ms. Pots." She noticed quickly he wouldn't look her in the eyes.

"Have you thought about my proposal at all?"

He frowned at her and threw the shield, testing if it would return like his old one did. After the third throw he knew it would work the same. Finally he turned back to her; she still stood there waiting patiently.

"Why did Tony not ask me about this?"

"Because I thought it better if we talked about it first. To ensure we're on the same page." She replied honestly.

"I don't think I can date Tony. Not because he's a man, I mean that's part of it… but not the whole. He's not right for me. He sees the world as a game, a joke. He does these good deeds and before he's even done doing them he's calling the press to let them know. He's never been the little guy; he wouldn't even understand the idea of that. He _is_ a bully. He's never had to work for anything, he just takes it. He could never understand me. Not truly understand, I might fascinate him, but we'd never connect."

He looked up to see Pepper scowling at him. "You don't think Tony would understand you because he makes jokes?"

"Tony doesn't know hardship. He doesn't understand loss… not real loss the loss of everything." Steve looked down at his new shield. "He's a good person; I'm not saying he's not. He's just not for me, the person for me I lost, I don't even know if she's still alive."

"Tony's had hardships, more than the average person I'd say." Her grip tightened on the tablet, tempted to smack Steve over the head with it.

"But we're not average people are we? Natasha's seen more death before she turned five than I bet you have in your whole life, Clint's parents and sisters were murdered in front of him, Bruce... well Bruce we hardly need to even get into. Thor was betrayed by his own brother after his father not only kicked him out of his home but out of their world. Tony? Tony had to live in a cave where they made sure he was fed and had to build things. His parents died, yes, but it wasn't from murder it was from an accident. He doesn't understand why we get upset when he jokes because he doesn't know! It's not his fault but it's still a fact."

Pepper glared at Steve with pure anger. "I was wrong, you don't deserve him." She turned on her heal and headed from the room.

Steve sighed and resumed the tossing of his shield.

Pepper went straight for Tony's lab, and sighed when she saw him watching the surveillance of her talking with Steve. She had hopped he's still be suiting Thor up.

"Spying's a bad habit." She said softly, setting the tablet down.

He smiled though he didn't turn away from the screen, he waited a moment so he could watch Pepper storm out of the training room. He turned it off and twirled his seat around to face her. "Natasha would disagree with that statement." He reached out pulled her to him so she stood in-between his legs. He peered up at her. "You are all I'll ever need."

She gently ran her fingers threw his hair as he pressed his forehead into her stomach his arms wrapping around her. "He just doesn't know, Tony."

He didn't respond instead tightening his grip on her.

"You could… tell him?" She hesitantly said.

Tony immediately pulled, back turning his chair back to the computer.

"Tony, I know you don't like to talk about it. At all. All I know is from you wake up screaming. Steve he may be the best one to be able to understand."

He stood up moving over to a cupboard and pulling down the Whiskey.

"Tony, it's six in the morning." She frowned.

"It's noon somewhere." He mumbled and downed a large shot of the liquor. "I need to get to the expo, I need to make modifications on the stage for the mark 6." He moved kissing her cheek. "I don't need anyone else." He smiled and quickly left for the garage.

Pepper stood there, watching him. Knowing how wrong both men were.


	3. Chapter 2

AN: WARNING, there is a scene in this chapter where Steve gets religious. He came from a time period where almost everyone was. To be true to his character I thought it was needed. Sorry if this offends anyone. Tony is slightly OOC in this chapter, but to his credit, he's very drunk.

Because he's a Playboy

The expo had been a huge success, not that that surprised anyone. If there was one thing Tony was really good at, it was putting on a show. Afterwards, he'd taken everyone out to celebrate. Tony had no idea what time it was when Steve and Bruce started herding everyone to the cars. Drinking didn't work for Steve with his enhanced body and Bruce didn't dare attempt to drink. It was because of this the two men were usually seen together at parties and in charge of keeping the rest of the team in line. It had been working well for everyone, but sometimes Tony wondered if they ever felt left out.

As they arrived back at the tower they started herding everyone inside, but Tony refused to move from the car.

"Tony, come on. Get out of the car." Bruce was leaning down trying to coax Tony out.

"I am good right here. Not moving. Nope." Tony crossed his arms.

"Tony, get out of the car." Bruce demanded.

Tony looked right at him. "Make me."

Bruce's frowned. "Tony…" he warned.

Steve came up behind and laid a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I'll get him, everyone else is in bed. Why don't you head up as well?"

Bruce looked between them before nodding. "Good luck." He went to the elevator with a yawn.

"Tony, why are you still in the car?"

"Because the car likes me."

Steve blinked. "I'm sure it does, but the car is tired. Let's let it sleep." He bent down to undo Tony's seat belt.

Tony smacked his hand away. "A car is not alive therefore it cannot become tired!"

"It also cannot have feelings for someone; get out of the car Tony."

"It does for me!"

"Tony you are acting like a five year old! You're being ridicules, get out of the car!" He reached for the seat belt again. Tony started twisting and pushing at his captain. Eventually Steve wacked his head on the top of the car. "DANG GOMMIT!" He stood back glaring and rubbing his head, Tony looked rather smug.

"That was not my fault." Tony announced crossing his arms.

"It most certainly was." Steve snapped back. "Tony, do you want to sleep in the car?"

"No."

"Then get out." Steve reasoned.

"You don't think I belong here." Tony glared. "You don't think I've _suffered_ enough to be here."

"You need to stop spying on conversations your not part of, and that is not why I said." Steve glared. "I said I didn't want to date you because you wouldn't understand. I don't want you to suffer Tony; I wish you never had to have any suffering in your life."

"You don't know anything about my life." Tony glared back. "You _knew_ my father, but you knew him when he was sober and working."

"We are not going to play a game of whose past was worse Tony. Let's get out of the car, I'll get you to bed with _Pepper_ and if you still want to talk about this when you sober we can."

Tony undid his seat belt and stood up. "You're a chicken because you know I'll never have the guts to talk to you about this sober."

"And I'm the chicken?" Steve glared.

"YES! I don't share or play well with others. That is no secret!" Tony moved toward the elevator.

"No, that's an excuse! You can have relationships just like anyone else. You push them away because it's easier to be selfish!" Steve followed the unsteady man.

Tony whirled around nearly falling but Steve caught him and steadied him before letting him go.

"I am not selfish… Ok I am! But it's within reason!"

"You live in a giant tower and have another mansion that you don't even use!"

"Well, should I make it an orphanage?"

"You don't need it; you don't need 20 some cars and 5 labs or any of this other crap! My god Tony in this building alone I think you have 4 fitness areas!"

"That's what really bugs you isn't it? I have all this stuff, I'm rich, and I'm cocky. I'm everything you hate." He said the last sentence without anger and with an air of sadness.

"I do not hate you Tony." Steve said softer. "I admit I tried when we first met, but you're a good person. I don't hate you." He repeated.

"You would have, before I was Iron Man. You would have hated me." He deflated into an office chair as the adrenaline of the verbal fight left him.

"Tony I've seen the video's of you in interviews before you were Iron Man. I don't think you've changed as much as you believe. You were a good person than too, you just didn't realize it."

"No I wasn't. Yinsen changed me, he was the good man."

Steve blinked when he saw Tony's eyes go wet. He kneeled down laying his hands on Tony's knees. "Who was Yinsen?" He had never heard that name before.

"A nobody. You'll find no record of him in any document. The closest you'll get is in my file where he was named as a 'doctor' that rigged my heart to a car battery. I… keep meaning to write about him. Let the world know what an amazing person he was. B-but I can't, every time I think I can... I can't. Nobody even knows what he did…"

"What did he do?" He asked softly.

"Everything. He saved my life... kept me going… inspired me not to give them what they wanted. When they'd bring me back… after, af-ter… he wouldn't tell me I should keep saying no, nor did he say I should say yes. He'd just talk to me… for hours he'd talk to me. About n-nothing... and it was everything."

"Where is he?"

"Dead, the suit... it wasn't ready in time. He told me…. He was going to buy me time. He saved my life. Again. His last words to me were, 'Don't waste it. Don't waste your life.' His body was never even recovered. I just ran away and left him there."

A thousands thoughts ran through Steve's mind, finally he sighed. "My best friend went on a mission with me. He had defended me my whole life, kept me safe. He was about to fall, and he needed me to save him. I didn't, he fell. He died."

Tony looked up. "Bucky." He said softly.

"Yeah, Bucky." He gave Tony's knee a squeeze. "Come on let's get you to bed."

"No…" Tony stood up. "I think I'm going to hit the gym for a little bit. Pepper doesn't need to deal with this too." He smiled. "She puts up with all my shit she certainly doesn't need to have to handle some overly emotional me. I'll go in a while."

"That's why you have so many fitness rooms? When you can't handle something you go there."

"I'd say from the amount of punching bags you go through you're not that different." Tony snapped slightly.

Steve smiled. "No, I suppose I'm not. Come on, I'll make up the couch in my room for you."

"A couch? I'm not sure I've ever slept on a couch."

Steve laughs "It's a lot better than a cave." He led him into the elevator.

"Better be." Tony grumbled.

AVENGERS

The weeks passed slowly with the occasional mission for the Avengers. Neither Tony nor Steve brought up the drunken confessions of that night. Steve wasn't even completely sure Tony remembered talking about them. But he couldn't forget them. He found himself going over Tony's file again and again. Nothing in them hinted at torture. He couldn't picture SHIELD missing that though.

It was close a month later that Steve's curiosity came to a boiling point. "Jarvis?" He said cautiously still unsure about the talking computer.

"Yes, Mr. Rogers."

"Would you please ring Director Fury?"

"Yes, sir."

A moment later Fury appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Rogers, this better be important it's the middle of the night here."

"Well it's only 8 pm here. Why was I not made aware that a member of my team was tortured?"

"Rogers, every member of your team has been tortured as some points. They can handle it."

"I was aware of their torture, it was in their files. Why wasn't Stark's?"

Fury sighed. "We tried, every time we put it in, 10 second later it was removed. Eventually it wasn't worth the effort anymore."

"Then why wasn't I told?" Steve glared.

"It wasn't exactly a necessity at the time and afterwards it seemed irrelevant. Stark has shown he can function on a normal level— for him. It was not relevant."

"It's always relevant!" Steve glared. "I want to know what happened."

"Did he crack?" Fury asked seriously.

"No. Now what happened?"

"Water boarding or perhaps dunking, his fingers showed scars from what we assume to be a nail being shoved under, food or water deprivation. Broken toes… If I were to guess it was mostly water related. The first thing he did on his return is have all his pools filled and bathtubs removed. He's made improvements of course, earlier this year he went into the ocean to set up the power for his tower. I had no reason to assume it would still be a problem. Is it?"

"No. How long did this go on?"

Fury sighed. "I don't know, until he said yes I imagine. A few weeks perhaps a month. He wouldn't talk to us. What we know is from his actions and his physical. Rogers, if he hasn't cracked and it isn't a problem than why are we having this call?"

"Because I should have known, he's a member of my team. I need to know these things!"

Fury stared at him for moment before reaching forward and disconnecting the call.

Steve sighed leaning back in his chair. His emotions were raging, clearly he had been wrong. He could admit that, but admitting to it would mean his biggest reason for not dating Tony would be gone. He could claim it was because he didn't want to share the man, but in all honesty that didn't bother him like it should. It really should, having a relationship with someone while they were in a relationship with someone else was not right or normal. Still he found even as he thought about it, he didn't care.

There was the fact that Tony was a man. Which was just unheard of. Two men did not have relationships like that. It was wrong. But why was it wrong? Because the bible said no? The bible also said not to over eat or drink… and not to argue with your parents. It said these things are bad, but people still did them. Those people weren't labeled as 'wrong'. He did believe in God, whole heartedly. His eyes drifted to his bible; he kept it on his night stand. This didn't feel wrong.

He looked up. "God," He whispered, "You tell us not to judge others for their sins for ours are equal. I think… I think I found my sin. I hope you'll forgive me but… he needs me, and I think I need him. I have to believe you put us together for this reason. I have to trust this is what you want." He bowed his head closing his eyes for a moment before he stood up and left the room.

He quickly descended the stairs to Tony's floor.

Tony was sitting in a little living room with Pepper lying with her head in his lap as he combed his fingers through her hair. She was laughing at something he had said.

A smile came to Tony's lips when he saw Steve come in. "Captain, what can we do for you?"

Pepper sat up, running a hand through her hair to calm it.

"I…" He realized with slight horror he'd hurried down here but now he had no idea what to say.

Pepper gave a small smile, as if she was able to read Steve just by looking at him. She stood up. "I'll let you boys talk." She leaned down giving Tony a quick kiss before heading for their bedroom.

Tony stood up. "Want a drink?" He headed for the liquor cabinet; Steve swore Tony had one of those for every floor.

Steve wished alcohol would affect him right now. "No. Tony, did you want to date me?"

Tony stopped moving and turned to look back at Steve. "Cap, that was the drama of like... two months ago."

"Yeah, well I've still been thinking about it." Steve flushed.

Tony grinned. "Can't get me off your mind huh?" He started pouring the whiskey but was stopped when the Captain was suddenly behind him pushing his hand back down.

"You don't need that for this conversation."He said softly into Tony's ear.

Tony reluctantly let go of the bottle. He turned around so he could stare up at his Captain. "So? You've been thinking about me for so long. What's your conclusion?"

Steve stared down at him directly into his eyes. "I don't really know." He admitted. "But I do know I'd like to…try."

Tony grinned. "Your face is going as red as the hulk goes green. So Cap," he moved around him. "Do you even know how two men get it on?" He waggled his eye brows at him.

Steve gapped at him, "I understand the… idea of it, yes. Though I'd hope we'd date before we got to any of that." He sounded a little scandalized; he was not use to people talking so freely about these things.

"A date usually ends in sex, or at least mine do."

"Well mine don't." Steve blushed harder. "I think a dating period is important."

"Mmhmm, and how long will this dating period be?" Tony leaned again the wall, watching Steve with more than a little amusement.

Steve was well aware he was being teased, and didn't like it. He moved to Tony putting his hands against the wall on either side of him blocking Tony in. He leaned down. "Until I say so." He growled pushing his knee in-between Tony's legs gently pushing up. He wouldn't sleep with the man immediately but that didn't mean he couldn't tease the man. He only hoped he was doing it right, he was basing his moves off of what he'd seen in movies and from Tony and Clint.

Tony inhaled sharply grasping onto Steve's waist. Steve grinned smugly, satisfied by the reaction.

"H-how long might that be?" He pushed though he no longer seemed cocky when he said it.

Steve continued to smile as he lowered his head to nibble on Tony's ear lobe. "Not too long. Six months?" He kissed Tony's jaw bone before moving down his neck.

"Six months?" Tony sounded horrified but Steve gently pushed up with his knee again making Tony make a small moan. Steve knew he was going to fall in love with that moan.

"A year is an appropriate amount of time I believe. Well unless you're going to war." He nipped at the junction from Tony's shoulder to neck.

"We're… always in war though." He rocked his hips into Steve's thigh, his fingers clutching onto the back of Steve's shirt.

"Mmm they're battles, wouldn't call it war." He pulled the shoulder of Tony's shirt down giving the skin a sharp little bite that he quickly soothed with a lick.

Tony groaned again. "Still dangerous. I think a week would be plenty."

Steve chuckled against Tony's shoulder. He pulled back his hand coming up to cup Tony's cheek. "Three months." He said firmly giving Tony a firm kiss before the man could try and argue for less time.

A throat being cleared had Steve quickly pulling away from Tony. Pepper stood there blushing slightly, Steve kept his body turned slightly away from her so she wouldn't see his, problem.

Tony on the other hand kept standing there, facing her fully with a big grin. "Pepper, did you have to come now? I could have talked him down to an hour."

Both Steve and Pepper snorted at that.

"You're good Tony but I don't think even you are that good." She said fondly. "Steve, since you have in fact agreed to this I have sent you a list of things on Tony."

"A list?" Steve questioned.

"Pepper, I'm not a little kid."

"You might as well be, you have no idea about anything that keeps you alive." She looked to Steve. "He doesn't have many allergies but he does have some, including some types of fish."

"Very few types of fish, and I keep myself alive quite well" Tony huffed and he tapped his arc reactor.

"Still shouldn't be at the fish bar."

"It's irresponsible of me ignore all fish, fish is good for me. The doctor said so." Tony crossed his arms.

Pepper shook his head. "And try to keep him away from too much milk, he's not lactose and intolerant or anything but if he has too much of it he'll break out like a 13 year old girl who's having her first period."

This made both men grimace at the mental image, which made Pepper grin.

"Oh and if in bed and Tony starts inching the blanket up, do _not_ let him get it over your head!"

Tony grinned at that one.

Steve smiled as well. "Not to worry about that one ma'am, with the amount of food I eat should Tony decide to play that game I can more that adequately pay him back."

Tony frowned at that. "Won't play that with you…" He grumbled.

"And should he play it with _you_, please let me know. I would be happy to _avenge_ you." He teased.

Pepper grinned. "I will keep that in mind."

"That is unfair." Tony pouted. "You said you guys can't mingle."

Both Pepper and Steve smiled at him.

* * *

That's it for this story, thank you all who reviewed and faved. Reviews do receive extra love from me as I feel they help my writing.


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